Shock waves were sent through the ACC when the shocking announcement that Virginia head coach Tony Bennett would be retiring was less than a month away from the beginning of the 2024-25 college basketball season.
The new area of college sports dealing with NIL and the transfer portal has taken a toll on many of the best coaches in all sporting departments because of how “professional” the college ranks have become.
Miami Hurricanes men’s basketball head coach Jim Larrañaga is one of those coaches who was shocked by the announcement and praised the coach for his accomplishments before his shocking announcement.
“First of all, I have tremendous respect for Tony Bennett. I think he deserves the Hall of Fame,” Larrañaga said. “Tremendous individual person, was a great college player, a great college coach, and just a great human being. One of the things he explained very well was his philosophy and he’s not willing to compromise his philosophy to accommodate the new conditions that we’re faced with.”
Larrañaga knows this change will affect many, but he still has his philosophy revolving around coaching and why he can keep going 50-plus years later.
“I got into coaching because my high school coach was my role model. One of the things I learned from him in my observation of his career is to just make adjustments and deal with what the issues you are dealing with. My own personal philosophy is I’m here to just educate young men and using the game of basketball to do it with.”
Larrañaga continued.
“I’m an educator, I’m a teacher. I like to work with the players during practice. I like to get to know them on the court and off the court and I like to prepare them for life when they are no longer bouncing the basketball,” Larrañaga said.
Larrañaga is entering his 14th season as the head coach of the Hurricanes and has a lot to learn about this new area, however, he is not afraid of the challenge.
The season starts for the Hurricanes on Nov. 4 when they take on Fairleigh Dickinson Knights at the Watsco Center at 6:00 p.m. ET.
